This workshop will show you how writers plot a novel. You’ll also get the
best tips on writing short stories, where to get them published and how to
win contests. Best yet, you’ll see how to apply the story-building
techniques you’ve learned to your own writing.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing
teacher for more than 25 years. He teaches at Ryerson University and
George Brown College and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to
Buffalo and from Sarnia to Moncton. But his proudest boast is that he has
helped many of his students get published.

Guest speaker Lynda Simmons has published eight novels. Her most recent
novel, Island Girl (from Berkley Books, a Penguin USA imprint), came out
in December 2010. Lynda has built a reputation for herself as an
outstanding comic novelist. Island Girl represents a departure for her in
that it's a much more serious book. Set on the Toronto Islands, the novel
recounts the emotionally riveting story of a 55-year-old mother, Ruby
Donaldson, who fights to reunite her family as she struggles with the
diagnosis of early on-set Alzheimer's and her determination to control her
own future.

Before going mainstream, Lynda served her apprenticeship as an author by
writing six romance novels, published by Harlequin, Silhouette and
Kensington. Lynda specializes in comic novels and her presentations are
known for their humour. At the workshop, she'll share her insights on
plotting novels and creating a character arc.